Ministry of Trade Industry and Resources

The 2026 Nuclear Export and Safety Confex (NES 2026) will take place at the Hwabaek International Convention Center (HICO) in Gyeongju from October 27 to 29, 2026. The three-day international event will explore opportunities for Korean nuclear companies to enter overseas markets and cooperate with partners in global supply chains. Now in its third edition, the event is jointly organized by the Korea Nuclear Association for International Cooperation (KNA) and HICO and sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR, Minister JK Kim).

The opening ceremony will be held on October 28, 2026. Attendees will include Kang Gam-chan, Deputy Minister for International Trade and Investment at MOTIR; Kim Dong-cheol, President of KNA and President and CEO of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO); Choi Young-sook, Head of the Pan East Sea Regional Headquarters of Gyeongsangbuk-do; Joo Nak-young, Mayor of Gyeongju; Joe Orgeron, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives in the United States; Carl Coe, former Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Energy; and Cao Hoai Duong, Vice President of Vietnam’s Petrovietnam (PVN).

The event will bring together 120 nuclear companies from Korea and other countries, including the United States, France, Canada, Vietnam, and the Czech Republic, along with approximately 3,000 nuclear industry participants. Their participation demonstrates strong global interest in Korea’s nuclear industry and enthusiasm for working with Korean companies. Under the theme “Leading the Global Nuclear Supply Chain,” this year’s event features a range of programs, including conferences, business meetings, and an exhibition. These programs will explore how Korean nuclear companies can expand their participation in global supply chains, including through follow-on opportunities arising from projects to build eight large nuclear power reactors in the United States under the Korea-U.S. Nuclear Power Framework announced on October 1, 2026.

Conferences on October 27 and 29 will cover the importance of nuclear power as AI use expands, the future of small modular reactors (SMRs) and opportunities to enter the SMR market, and experiences of participating in overseas supply chains. In particular, two sessions—the “U.S. Nuclear Construction Project Briefing” on the morning of October 27 and “Supply Chain Opportunities for Large-Scale U.S. Nuclear Power Plants” on the morning of October 29—are expected to offer Korean companies a valuable opportunity to explore entry into overseas markets, including the United States, following the recent announcement of the Korea-U.S. Nuclear Power Framework.

B2B export meetings on October 27 and 28 will bring together 55 overseas buyer companies and 70 Korean small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and middle market enterprises. To help the meetings lead to actual exports rather than remain one-off encounters, each company will receive a schedule of one-on-one meetings based on an advance survey of participants’ interests. Major anchor companies from around the world are attending as buyers, including TerraPower of the United States, EDF and Framatome of France, AtkinsRéalis of Canada, and PVN of Vietnam.

The exhibition will feature 182 booths operated by 77 Korean and foreign companies and institutions. Exhibitors will include large Korean companies and public enterprises supplying nuclear equipment or providing engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services. Companies will also participate in groups through joint pavilions, including the Team Korea Pavilion with four companies, the SMR Pavilion with 10 companies, and the Nuclear Export First Step Pavilion with 18 companies. Together, they will actively promote the export capabilities of Korean nuclear companies across the full nuclear power lifecycle to a global audience. 

In his congratulatory remarks at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister Kang Gam-chan declared, “Growing demand for nuclear power driven by AI and climate action, together with export opportunities in the United States and other global markets under the Korea-U.S. Nuclear Power Framework, has opened an unprecedented new era of nuclear power exports.” He emphasized, “Nuclear exports are a ‘100-year business’ that will underpin Korea’s future economy. The government and industry should come together as one ‘Team Korea’ to secure a leading position in nuclear supply chains worldwide.”